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1918bbr discNetflix Hits Australia, Forgets Its Net Neutrality Principles - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Netflix-Hits-Australia-Forgets-Its-Net-Neutrality-Principles-132830
While Netflix has been an incredibly vocal supporter of net neutrality and a massive opponent of usage caps here in the States, apparently those positions didn't make the ocean voyage to Australia. Janko Roettgers at GigaOM notes that Netflix will be launching in Australia on 24, much to the pleasure of those who've had to use VPNs to access out of market Netflix content. Oddly however, Netflix has been striking deals with ISPs there to have its content exempt from usage caps.

Broadband provider iiNet offers a variety of DSL plans with usage caps ranging from 100 GB to 1 Terabyte, with each additional gigabyte charging users around fifty cents. Except Netflix has struck a deal that will make Netflix exempt from those caps entirely.

"Working with iiNet to offer quota-free Netflix content gives more people the opportunity to familiarise themselves with who we are and what our service offers, Netflix said in an announcement. The company is working on striking similar deals with Optus and other Australian ISPs, giving the streaming operator a leg up over other services.

That position is a far cry from Netflix's stance here in the States, where the company has criticized draconian usage caps for being a ham fisted way for incumbents to prop up sagging TV revenues in the face of Internet video. When the company entered Canada, Netflix executives went so far to claim that usage caps made for "third world broadband," and joked that Canadian broadband rates were so bad, they almost qualified as "human rights abuses."

Comcast should apply caps equally, or not at all.

-Netflix

Netflix has also been a fierce critic of exempting content from usage caps. Specifically, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings complained a few years ago on Facebook about how Comcast's content was cap-exempt if funneled via the Xbox 360.

"I spent the weekend enjoying four good internet video apps on my Xbox: Netflix, HBO GO, Xfinity, and Hulu. When I watch video on my Xbox from three of these four apps, it counts against my Comcast internet cap," stated Hastings. "When I watch through Comcast s Xfinity app, however, it does not count against my Comcast internet cap."

"Comcast no longer following net neutrality principles," declared the CEO. "Comcast should apply caps equally, or not at all."

Obviously the U.S. and Australian broadband markets have notable differences. The biggest being that Australian ISPs have employed usage caps for so long, many customers there have grown comfortable with the idea (thoough not too comfortable). That's in contrast with the States, where customers have grown used to unlimited flat-rate offerings, and react poorly when having strict usage limits foisted upon them.

And while a growing number of nations have passed net neutrality rules (and have specifically outlawed this kind of "zero rating" of services), net neutrality hasn't quite caught on with the same fervor in Australia. Netflix obviously wants to have a successful Australian launch without rocking the boat upon entry, though it seems likely they may change their tune on caps and neutrality once they've established a more comfortable beach head.read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Netflix-Hits-Australia-Forgets-Its-Net-Neutrality-Principles-132830Tue, 03 Mar 2015 12:52:04 EDTVerizon Will Sell More DSL, FiOS Assets At 'The Right Price' - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizon-Will-Sell-More-DSL-FiOS-Assets-At-The-Right-Price-132827
Verizon just got done selling all of its fixed-line network assets in California, Texas and Florida to Frontier Communications, and the company is giving every indication that more deals may be in the works. Speaking to investors during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2015, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo told attendees the company will consider additional deals if they are at the "right price" and geographically make sense:

quote:"For the right price and right terms, if there's an asset we don't believe is strategic to Verizon and can return shareholder value, we'll dispose of that asset," Shammo said. "If you look at Florida, Texas and California, these are three island properties and FiOS is a small footprint of those properties compared to the copper footprint except for Florida because it was just Tampa."

Of course there's still plenty of areas in the Northeast Verizon doesn't have much interest in upgrading from DSL -- including most of upstate New York and cities like Boston, Buffalo, Alexandria and Baltimore. Pressed again for whether Verizon might expand FiOS again someday, Shammo politely stated no:

quote:"You should expect wireline capex to trend up and wireline capex to trend down," Shammo said. "Within the wireline business we still have legitimate LFAs that we have to complete in cities like New York City, Philadelphia and D.C."

Capped wireless service is significantly more profitable, less regulated and less unionized that fixed-line service, and Verizon has made their intentions to continue veering sharply away from the latter abundantly clear. read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizon-Will-Sell-More-DSL-FiOS-Assets-At-The-Right-Price-132827Tue, 03 Mar 2015 10:13:58 EDTPortland Changing Tax Code to Help Lure Google Fiber - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Portland-Changing-Tax-Code-to-Help-Lure-Google-Fiber-132826
Surely fueled by some Gigabit IPA, Portland's City Council last year voted unanimously to approve a new franchise agreement with Google Fiber. The agreement, which includes a 5% franchise fee from Google, extends until 2024 and allows Google to start planing out potential placement of fiber huts and future "fiberhoods." Portland leaders also had to strip back some restrictions on utility cabinet placement to make Google happy.

Google Fiber isn't coming to Portland just yet, though Google recently announced the city was one of several options that should be announced later this year. To sweeten the pot, Oregon is push a change in state tax code to help further lure Google Fiber to the Pacific Northwest:

quote:An Oregon Senate committee has proposed an unusual tax break, designed to help lure Google Fiber or other hyperfast Internet services to the Portland area. The language would cap property valuation when it comes to a thorny element of Oregon's tax code, "central assessment," which makes telecom companies liable for the worth of their brand and other intangible assets.

Google Fiber's Milo Medin recently told cities that they can either eliminate barriers to faster deployment, or "enjoy your Time Warner Cable." As Overland Park, Kansas found out, if you don't give Google what it wants -- the company is quick to move on to one of the countless other cities that are begging the company for better service.read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Portland-Changing-Tax-Code-to-Help-Lure-Google-Fiber-132826Tue, 03 Mar 2015 08:33:05 EDTFrontier Will Start Offering TiVO Service - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Frontier-Will-Start-Offering-TiVO-Service-132825
Frontier Communications and TiVO have struck a new deal that may give Frontier customers access to TiVO hardware and service. According to a company announcement, Frontier will begin to market and deploy co-branded versions of TiVo's suite of whole-home products and services -- including an industry-first deployment of the TiVo Roamio DVR with over-the-air (OTA) support -- starting sometime in the middle of this year. Frontier's going to target cord cutters with these services; the company never particularly bullish on offering TV services -- even though they just acquired Verizon's DSL and FiOS assets in CA, FL and TX. read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Frontier-Will-Start-Offering-TiVO-Service-132825Tue, 03 Mar 2015 07:51:01 EDTDish: Even With Neutrality Rules, Comcast Still a Huge Threat - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Dish-Even-With-Neutrality-Rules-Comcast-Still-a-Huge-Threat-132824
Even with new, tougher Title II based net neutrality rules, Comcast remains a huge threat to Internet video, argues Dish Networks. "Even if the net neutrality rules are upheld in court, there are innumerable ways that Comcast-Time Warner could sabotage over-the-top," Jeff Blum, senior vice president and deputy general counsel of Dish Network Corp told attendees of a conference call this week. "And over-the-top is a reality. It s something that is good for consumers." Licensing is the biggest weapon for a larger Comcast, argues Blum. "For example, Comcast-Time Warner could say , 'OK, Discovery, you want carriage on Comcast-Time Warner -- our 30 million homes -- we'll give it to you, but you can t grant the following over-the-top rights to Netflix or Sony or Dish,' " Blum said.read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Dish-Even-With-Neutrality-Rules-Comcast-Still-a-Huge-Threat-132824Tue, 03 Mar 2015 07:50:34 EDTTuesday Morning Links - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Tuesday-Morning-Links-132823
Reality Check: Fair for whom? RIP, unlimited Internet rcrwireless.com Verizon Tests LTE Cat-1 Devices With Ericsson, Sequans lightreading.com Google Confirms Scaled-Down MVNO Plans lightreading.com Internet Pioneers Decry Title II Rules lightreading.com T-Mobile says it will deploy LTE in the unlicensed 5GHz spectrum used by Wi-Fi in 2016 gigaom.com Cablevision COO says Freewheel shows customers the value of the Wi-Fi network fiercecable.com How Google s New Wireless Service Will Change the Internet wired.com Zuckerberg says forget drones and balloons, for internet to flourish mobile operators are crucial siliconrepublic.com read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Tuesday-Morning-Links-132823Tue, 03 Mar 2015 07:38:02 EDTGoogle Broadband Balloon Project 'Loon' Making Great Strides - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Google-Broadband-Balloon-Project-Loon-Making-Great-Strides-132814
In June of 2013 Google unveiled Google Loon, the latest in a long line of similar projects that will use hot air balloons to deliver broadband and wireless services to under-served or emergency prone areas. Project Loon will use hot air balloons 49 feet wide stationed 12 miles above the planet, well above the range of commercial aircraft. Ground base stations set some sixty miles apart communicate with solar-powered radio transmitters affixed to the balloons, and Google steers the balloons using wind as they ride the 40th parallel.

Not everybody was optimistic that Google Loon will ever be more than a fun hobby for Google. Avid balloonist and aeronautical engineer Per Lindstrand stated that the company was wasting their time on the effort, saying the winds up there are simply too fierce to keep reasonable control of the balloons over longer periods of time (more than a few days).

But in an update on the Loon project over at The Verge, Google states they've make major strides in keeping its broadband balloons aloft:

quote:The early models last only a few days; the goal for commercial viability was to have them floating for three months. "Today we are excited to announce most of our balloons stay up for as long as six months," says Pichai. The newest record was a ballon that lasted 187 days in the air, circumnavigating the globe nine times, passing over more than a dozen countries on four continents along the way.

There's still no word on a commercial deployment, however. With Loon Google isn't planning to challenge carriers as much as they aim to strike deals with them to extend wireless coverage worldwide; as such the company says they're in talks with a number of carriers to start extended field trials. read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Google-Broadband-Balloon-Project-Loon-Making-Great-Strides-132814Mon, 02 Mar 2015 16:15:09 EDTT-Mobile, Alcatel Lucent To Offer LTE That Uses Wi-Fi Spectrum - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/TMobile-Alcatel-Lucent-To-Offer-LTE-That-Uses-WiFi-Spectrum-132813
T-Mobile will be among the first carriers to utilized unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum to help supplement the company's LTE network, the company announced today. According to a press announcement by Alcatel Lucent, T-Mobile will be deploying Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) in 5 GHz spectrum sometime in 2016. Alcatel-Lucent says they'll soon begin LTE-U enabled small cell trials using Qualcomm's FSM99xx small cell chipsets, with commercial products expected in 2016.

What this means for you is that carriers are starting to push into the 5 GHz airwaves shared with Wi-Fi, integrating licensed and unlicensed band operation to produce better device range, improved downstream speeds, and significantly improved upstream speeds.

Not everybody is thrilled about this. As we noted recently, many Wi-Fi hardware vendors are concerned that far-more organized carrier technology won't play nice with ad-hoc consumer hotspot deployments, resulting in reduced Wi-Fi network performance. We're only just starting to see concerns raised about this now, but it should be a hot topic next year when the technology actually starts seeing deployment.

For now, Alcatel Lucent would prefer it if you didn't think about that.

"With Wireless Unified Networks, we are excited to be taking the important steps to transform and greatly enhance the user's wireless experience in the home, at work, and in dense venue networks by combining existing Wi-Fi and cellular networks into one high performance network," states the company.read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/TMobile-Alcatel-Lucent-To-Offer-LTE-That-Uses-WiFi-Spectrum-132813Mon, 02 Mar 2015 14:20:58 EDTGoogle Confirms It's Getting Into The Wireless Business - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Google-Confirms-Its-Getting-Into-The-Wireless-Business-132812
Confirming numerous rumors from earlier this year, Google has announced that the company will soon formally unveil their foray into wireless services. Speaking at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Google's Sundar Pichai told attendees that their MVNO would be launched sometime in the "coming months."

Those hoping for Google to jump into the wireless market with both feet may wind up being disappointed. Pichai noted at several points that Google's foray into wireless is going to be conducted on a "small scale" to "show what's possible" in the hopes of encouraging others.

It s a very small-scale compared to the rest of the OEM industry, but it pushes the needle. I think we re at the state where we need to think of hardware, software, and connectivity together," Pichar told attendees. "We don t intend to be a carrier at scale, and we re working with existing partners."

In other words, like Google Fiber or Google Nexus, Google's hoping more to encourage a conversation and drive innovation -- as opposed to going toe to toe with AT&T and Verizon on a national scale. There's still no word on precisely what this service is going to look like or be priced at, but previous rumors have suggested it leans heavily on Wi-Fi and uses both the T-Mobile and Sprint cellular networks as backup. read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Google-Confirms-Its-Getting-Into-The-Wireless-Business-132812Mon, 02 Mar 2015 12:16:08 EDTVerizon Files Complaint Over Dish Spectrum Auction Shenanigans - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizon-Files-Complaint-Over-Dish-Spectrum-Auction-Shenanigans-132808
As we noted last month, Dish Network has been taking heat for some creative shenanigans at the recent AWS-3 spectrum auction. One, despite spending $13.3 billion at auction Dish appears to have used a legal "small business" loophole to save themselves around $3 billion. The company also took heat for using a variety of proxy companies to bid against one another in order to drive auction prices higher.

quote:In a regulatory filing with the Federal Communications Commission, Verizon said its analysis of auction data indicated that Dish closely coordinated its bidding with a pair of partnerships in which it was an investor, creating the impression there was more demand for some licenses than there actually was and driving smaller bidders out of the running.

Of course Verizon is no stranger to pushing the boundaries of laws and regulations, and their primary concern is Dish jumping into the wireless broadband market. It's still not really clear if that's Dish's intent, or they're just stockpiling valuable spectrum for a massive sale down the road. read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizon-Files-Complaint-Over-Dish-Spectrum-Auction-Shenanigans-132808Mon, 02 Mar 2015 10:17:02 EDTNickelodeon Launching $6/Month Streaming Video Service - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Nickelodeon-Launching-6Month-Streaming-Video-Service-132807
As we've explored, one of the broadcaster markets hit particularly hard by Netflix is children's programming, since parents (and kids) find it immeasurably more convenient to watch TV on their own schedule. Kids are also less likely to need to see the "latest and greatest," resulting in what's often been a 15% or greater viewership dip quarter to quarter over the last year. Nickelodeon has been particularly hard hit by Netflix over the last year as Netflix gains popularity.

Hoping to undo some of this damage, Nickelodeon has announced that the company plans to launch their own "Noggin" streaming video service this month. According to Nickelodeon parent company Viacom, Noggin will offer a variety of programming options for $6 a month.

A cable connection isn't required, though Viacom has said the channel is in talks with cable operators regarding have ISPs market the offering as an add on option to traditional services. Starting March 5, the service will be available via an app available in the Apple store for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

It's unclear if the service will be able to draw viewers back from Netflix.

It's unclear just how many $x per month subscription fees viewers are willing to pay. CBS recently offered their own $6 a month streaming service offering just CBS content; viewers may continue to find Netflix's broadcaster-diverse assortment of content to be a better overall value.read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Nickelodeon-Launching-6Month-Streaming-Video-Service-132807Mon, 02 Mar 2015 08:33:08 EDTGrande Launches $65 1 Gbps Service in San Antonio - http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Grande-Launches-65-1-Gbps-Service-in-San-Antonio-132806
Grande Communications has announced the company has started deploying 1 Gbps broadband services in San Antonio. According to a company announcement, the company says they'll first be offering their 1 Gbps "Power 1000" broadband tier in Alamo Heights and Terrell Hills. The company says they'll be offering the service for $65 a month, though the tier will top out at 400 Mbps in areas not yet upgraded to a gig. Grande's also offering 50Mbps at $35, 200Mbps for $45, and 300Mbps for $55 a month. "We understand our customers' needs for more Internet speed options with low and mid-range pricing and we strive to deliver a better value than our competitors," proclaims the company.read comment(s)]]>http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Grande-Launches-65-1-Gbps-Service-in-San-Antonio-132806Mon, 02 Mar 2015 07:57:05 EDT